The Wayne Public Library of Wayne, NJ is the owner of the Wayne Discussion Blog. The purpose of this blog is to facilitate discussion of selected book titles and other library materials, for entertainment, enlightenment and educational purposes.

Monday, June 2, 2008

A Blogging Good Time!

Summer Reading for Adults – Ages 18 and up!(Note: you can only participate in either the Adult Summer Reading in the Adult Dept. or The Parent Summer Reading in the Children’s Dept. not both!- Wayne Residents only!)

In person registration:Begins 9:00 a.m. June 5 - Registration will continue until July 15!

1) Register at the Adult Reference Desk!2) Find a great book to read!3) Read it!4) Go to http://waynebookdiscussion.blogspot.com5) Click on the month June6) Click on "A Blogging Good Time"

7) Scroll down just a bit.8) Click on Post a Comment9) Type in your book information and book summary.10) Type in the Word Verification11) Select Name/URL and type in your assigned number – “your first name” Example: 12-JoeThe more books you read and blog about, the closer you are to winning!The contestant who has the most book blogs will win!

9 comments:

1-BradyB
said...

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This action in this book revolves around one milestone event, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: the Columbia Exposition. It chronicles the stories of two men: Daniel Burnham, the architect who made the fair possible, spearheading the entire project and accomplishing a marvel in an amazingly short period of time, and H.H. Holmes, known as America’s First Serial Killer, who took advantage of the Exposition to lure fairgoers to his “Castle”, a building he designed for the express purpose of torturing, murdering, and disposing of his victims.

When I first began reading the book, I thought I’d have to endure a dry tale of the building of the White City (another name for the Fair Grounds) in order to get to “the good parts” about H.H. Holmes. In fact, the drama surrounding the Fair and its designers was just as, if not more, riveting than the lurid details of Holmes and his unholy killing spree. What I enjoyed most were the little vignettes interspersed throughout the book which involved well-known historical figures who visited or were associated with the Fair (Frank Lloyd Wright, Helen Keller, and Buffalo Bill Cody to name a few). The book did not have enough pictures of the White City to suit me, but a quick internet search was all it took to fill the gap. All in all, I’d highly recommend the book.

Screenwriter Louise “Lou” Calabrese is not thrilled to be sharing a helicopter ride to the Alaskan wilderness with the star of her movie Copkiller IV, Jack Townsend. Lou hasn’t been fond of Jack since he changed one of the pivotal lines in their first movie, and likes him even less since he broke things off with her best friend. Now she’s had to endure a murder attempt and a helicopter crash and she’s on the run through that unforgiving Alaskan wilderness with Jack as her only companion.

I’ve always been a fan of Meg Cabot’s books for adults. They’re like a chick flick for the reader. This one is a bit different in format from her earlier books, but still delivers that satisfying chick flick feeling. Not only are Lou and Jack a delight to read, but so are many of the minor characters (Jack and Lou’s families especially). Great beach reading!

This author wrote many mystery books using Carlotta Carlyle (a six-foot-tall redheaded private investigator) as the main character. Carlotta used to be a Boston police detective and now runs a solo shop (detective agency) plus pilots a cab between cases. I enjoy reading the light mystery books by Linda Barnes and "The Big Dig" was no exception.

Carlotta is working undercover searching out fraud on the Big Dig, the creation of a central artery tunnel running beneath downtown Boston, when she gets another case searching for a missing person. She tries to work on both cases at the same time but comes across many dead ends with each case.

This is Jayne Ann Krentz’s fourth book in the Arcane Society Series, which alternates between stories set in the Victorian Era (which she publishes under her Amanda Quick pseudonym), and stories set in the present day.

Leona Hewitt, disguised as a man, has crashed a party at private museum in order to retrieve a crystal stolen from her family. When she gets there, she discovers someone else is there for the same reason, a man with a hypnotic voice and manner.

Thaddeus Ware, is a psychical hypnotist, but Leona shows no danger of falling under his spell. Instead, she hypnotizes him with her looks and manner. She uses the crystal they both want to rescue him from a diabolical trap, and then gives him the slip in London.

What follows is a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Thaddeus and Leona teaming up to keep the crystal out of the hands of a secret society, the members of which want the crystal for its destructive properties.

This is not the best of Krentz/Quick’s Arcane Society novels, and her historical fiction especially tends to follow a set outline. In spite of that, however, it’s a fun ride, that revisits familiar friends from the earlier novels and manages to entertain the reader while they are in the story.

It’s not easy to describe a Thursday Next novel. They’re part Monty Python, part Doctor Who, part Masterpiece Theater, and part something completely unique.

By day, Thursday is a Jurisfiction agent, policing the book world and all its characters. By night, she’s a suburban housewife and mother to three children and a dodo bird. In this novel alone, the fifth of the series, she’s faced with an assassination attempt, a ghost, the death of Sherlock Holmes, and a smelly, monosyllabic teenage son who may or may not become a time-traveler and save the world. All this, while attempting to save the classics of English literature by keeping them from being turned into cheap, reality television series.

These novels are a wonderful combination of sly puns, literary and historical references, plot twists, and even some romance. Intrigued? You should be! Confused? You may be! Entertained? You will be!

MY SISTER'S KEEPER BY JUDI PICOULTThe story is disturbing from the outset. A mother who is on a mission to save her destined to die child by using her pre-selected gene 2nd child to be used as spare parts.A most depressing story that does make one think about personal choices and lies. Not an upbeat summer read for sure but one that will lead to much discussion with a shocking ending.

I agree with 1-bradyb reagrding the Third Circle by Amanda Quick not being one of her best books. I've enjoyed Ms. Quick's books (Jayne Anne Krentz) for many years. I've read all of her historical novels and admired her quirky heroines and uniquely handsome hero's, but in this story I never truly "liked" Leona or Thaddeus. The novel concentrated too heavily on mesmerism and magical crystals and never really developed the relationship. I hope that Ms. Quick soon returns to her roots in historical romance and gives up some new quaint characters to fall in love with.

This mystery centers around Anna Pigeon, a Park Ranger at Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. If you like the "outdoors" or just ready about it, you will enjoy the landscape and the plot. An unusual amount of medical rescues (including two deaths) has Anna puzzled, struggling to find the answer.

Workaholic attorney, Samantha Sweeting, has just had the best and worst day of her life. She’s made partner at the prestigious law firm where she works, but before the senior partners can even congratulate her, she’s discovered a huge mistake that will cost her firm millions.

In her panic, Samantha walks out of her office and onto a train. She gets off in the country and stops to ask directions at a large estate where she’s mistaken for someone who’s come to interview for the position of housekeeper. Before she knows it, she’s wearing a uniform, curtsying to her employers, and trying to figure out how to turn on the washing machine, and what the frightening appliances in the kitchen do. With the help of a sexy gardener and his mother, she learns not only to cope with the housekeeping, but also how to cope with her life.